Seasons closing, Hunting choices are getting limited

 For me two more seasons have now ended, duck season is done as well as deer season. 

Monday, I went out deer hunting and as has become the norm I saw nothing but squirrels and trees. Tuesday I was going to go duck hunting but ended up getting up late so I headed over to sit in my tree stand for one of the last times this year until this happened.

She weighed in at 127#'s and only went 10 yards from where I shot her. She came in with at least 8 or 9 other does and I took the first one big one that gave me a shot. 

Good way to end deer season.

Wednesday Cliff and I hunted a spot I've got in town. We got there with plenty of time to put out the 2 dozen decoys and set up a makeshift blind. Once we had that ready Cliff realized the cornstalk we put in the tube last year as a plug was still there. The bad news is with the rain and his buddy trying to jam more shells in the magazine the "plug" was no longer plugging. So we had to take the forearm cap of and pull the compression spacer out to get to the "plug" which was dissolved. We had to preform this with a knife, no light, in the rain, while watching for ducks and geese. It was as always when I take Cliff, take a kid hunting/fishing day, depending on the season. This sideshow finally ended up with a branch stuck in for the plug, and a whole cleaning session scheduled for today, after we install my stove. 

Back to the hunt...

The ducks and geese flew a little late but they finally did fly. We ended up way short of limit for a couple reasons, mainly spinner issues, gun jams, and generally just bad shooting. Now you can look at that list and figure out which way the finger points even though I would never point fingers. 👉

Yes we should've done better, but for a cold, wet, nasty day we had a pretty good time. We even left with some geese and the last duck of the year.

All I have left now is goose until the second week of Feb then yotes for a couple weeks. Then with the onset of March begins the garage and hunting gear clean up along with getting ready for fishing season.

Christmas Miracle

 The only Christmas Miracle this year was the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

 

I hunted most of this week with nothing to show for my effort. I just got back from a goose hunt practice goose hunt. You know the kinda practice that entails me driving an hour, setting out all my decoys and laying in the snow hoping for a shot. Then when all the 300 geese get out and put down in 2 locations one to my right and one to my left at least 1000 yards away, pick everything up and head the hour back home and write this. 

That kinda practice.

Yeah they can't all be winners. But I wish I could win once a week, I don't think that's asking too much.

Anyway, I gotta work the next 2 days then duck and a late doe season starts for me on Monday. Hopefully my luck will change. 

 

I have realized the less that hits my cleaning table the more I spend on fishing lures. 😏 

Hope everyone had a Safe, Healthy and Merry Christmas.

 

Another week of saving ammo

 Well the day's I spent afield this week were kinda backwards, but they were hunted the only way I could. Let me explain the better days for deer were Monday, Tuesday and Thursday this week. Sean got Wednesday off and we planned our annual Swamp Stomp muzzle loader deer hunt at Mongo. Unfortunately it snowed all day, now I'm not saying that's a bad day for deer, however it is much better suited day for geese. So kinda crapped out on that one and then there was Tuesday which is the day I took Jake goose watching. It was suppose to be cloudy all day but soon after sunrise the sun came out and the geese sat. That would've been a good deer day, and speaking of deer days muzzle loader is over for me. I might try with my crossbow if I'm not goose hunting but as it looks right now goose and coyote are the only seasons left for me to hunt. 

Hunting seasons winding down.

Boy did I choose wrong

 This is going to be short and sweet sad.

Monday- Deer hunting in the morning, saw shooter doe 50 yards over on neighbors' property. Evening deer hunt- saw squirrels.

Tuesday- Deer hunting in the morning- saw squirrels, evening-pheasant hunt saw one 0 bagged.

Wednesday-Deer hunting in the morning- saw squirrels, Evening deer hunt- saw more squirrels.

Thursday-Deer hunting in the morning- super foggy, but only saw squirrels.

Should've gone duck hunting.

Busy week

Monday we had a storm cell moving in so I headed to the Fort for a quick goose hunt. It was also the first time I used my new gopro 8, the picture is alot better than I expected.

I had limit by 8 but got stuck in my blind because of all the geese in the field. I was waiting for them to eat and leave, when I got too cold I decided to get out and pack up. The funny thing is the geese didn't even care, I walked a couple hundred yards, got the wheeler, ran it into the spread, packed up and left. All with a hundred plus geese watching me and eating. 

Spot saved for another week. 👍

Tuesday I took the boat over to Big Turkey lake. The last time I hunted there after a snow I had a super hunt. This hunt did not disappoint, I could've had my first duck limit of the year but they caught me hunting by sound. By the time I knew they were there, they were on their way out.

Since Wednesday was going to be warmer I headed to Mongo at sunrise for pheasant clean up. I hunted with a couple guys I met while hunting. The had an older German short-hair named "Ralphie" which if you have ever seen "A Christmas Story", made me laugh out loud. We hunted hard until Ralphie got tired around 2pm then Ron and Tim took Ralphie home and I stayed out. I finally found a couple birds the first one was a complete whiff and the second I hit. After an extensive search I wasn't able to find the pheasant, I needed Ralphie.I decided to continue on with the hunt. I was finally able to find 3 more birds 1 went down, 1 was a complete whiff, and 1 got a way. 

I called it a day at 4pm.

At least I'll be eating pheasant this year. Next week is forecasted to be sunny all week so I might try to get out again and add one or two more to the freezer.

Wanted to give a special shout out to Ron, Tim and Ralphie, thanks for allowing me to tag along. I had a great time.